42% of all consumers look for your business online before they do business with you. Does your website make the cut? Most small business owners have no idea of how much business they are loosing every day because their website is not up to par. It is really a shame that this happens as much as it does on a daily basis.

Most business owners and startups have gotten quotes from both website designers and marketing companies that range in the thousands of dollars. These companies have often also looked at do-it-yourself solutions and solutions that are templated in order to save money. But is $3000, $5000 or $20.000 for a website really worth it?

Not to long ago I was at a small business networking meeting. Somehow during the meeting I and a few other business owners got into a discussion about online marketing and websites. To no surprise none of the business owners I talked to were doing any type of active online marketing. Most of them had an online business card (2-3 page website) that had no purpose other than to give a phone number and address so people could contact them during business hours.

Following up on the changes on Google, there has been a trend of comments and advisements made to the webmasters of new and developing markets. This brings up some very interesting questions. Are the “old” SEO techniques becoming obsolete, and are SEO experts justifying the way they do things instead of adapting to what Google is doing?

Multi-level marketing is not what it used to be, at least for those MLM businesses that have picked up on technology and started utilizing it fully. Every day more and more people within the MLM industry realize the potential of using technology and the main company is left behind.

The global internet is not as global as small business owners may think it is, in fact the global internet can be extremely effective for local markets. If a small business takes the time to develop their website to be an online marketing tool instead of just an online business card they could tap into a market beyond their expectations. The internet and website design are a tool and market that small business underestimate. The reason is most often that they think it is too costly. The truth of the matter is small business often make a very crucial mistake. They deal with a “website designer” instead of dealing with an online marketing company to develop their small business website.

I was watching a show on television called Kitchen Nightmares featuring the man from Hell’s Kitchen, the ever so wonderful and soft spoken Chef Gordon Ramsay. Now besides the fact that he finds restaurants that are really in trouble and helps them, which of course is very nice of him, there is something more that can be learned from this show. As a marketer and a former restaurant owner this show is of course right up my alley. Especially since there is so much marketing value in the show.

When a small business decides to take their business online there are usually several mistakes that they do. This is partially due to lack of experience and often lack of knowledge. There seems to be a trend that small businesses think of their website as an online business card instead of a marketing tool. That is where the majority of them go wrong. So let’s take a look at some of the most common mistakes done when a small business takes their business online.

After working in the website design and online marketing field for over 10 years I have looked at and analyzed thousands of websites and hundreds of website design companies. What I have found out over the years is that most “cheap” website design firms actually “scam” their clients by offering many additional services that are already FREE and only take a few seconds to setup or do!

I remember a few years ago when I worked for a small business owner. It was a very unique experience that taught me quite a bit about what a single person can do, an even more important what a single person can not do!